Mar
21
Two fat green frogs live together in a pond. One day when old Clyde was asleep in the sun, young Lester decided to have some fun. This is a story about the pollution caused by humans and how it impacts the environment.
Here is a fun paper animation of the life cycle of a frog created by Studio Nos for Sesame Street.
2M and Mrs Booth
Mar
9
Click on this image and use the scroll wheel on your mouse to see just how big or small the universe and everything in it really is…Wow!
Mrs Booth
Feb
19
Three grade 7 students launched their Hello Kitty doll into space for a recent science project on altitude and air pressure. A weather balloon kit was purchased from a science store by the girls, and after creating a special capsule and attaching a Go Pro camera Hello Kitty was launched into space. It reached an altitude of 93,625 feet or approximately 29 kilometres. The weather balloon expanded nearly 54 times its original size and finally burst sending Hello Kitty into a rapid descent back to Earth! It finally landed in a tree about 75km away from where it was originally launched and, using a SPOT Satellite GPS tracker, was found.
Who remembers when LEGO man was launched into space by two Canadian high school students?
Dec
4
Stage 2 have recently finished the ‘Human Body’ unit of learning. The students created powerpoint presentations, quizzes, completed virtual activities, visual art and written projects. They were extremely busy and engaged as they immersed themselves in their learning. Click on the Youblisher book to view examples of their work. Great work everyone 🙂
3C, 3/4HE, 4P
Nov
26
As part of their English information report unit students from 5M also had to complete a virtual element by building the Antarctic animal they had been researching. They then needed to capture and upload their information report to produce a display. The students worked in groups and only had four lessons to complete the building component. They all did a great job sharing the task and collaborating on ideas. They used books and images when building to obtain authenticity. The Humpback whales look wonderful as they are feeding on krill 🙂 The other animals researched were:
Virtual Antarctica Information Reports
Ms Mulrooney, Mrs Booth and 5M
Nov
13
November 14th as you wake up in the Southern Hemisphere the moon will be passing between Earth and the sun creating a total solar eclipse. This is very exciting and thousands of people have travelled from all over the world to Cairns in Queensland where the eclipse can be viewed clearly. If it is a clear morning in Coffs Harbour we will also be able to view the eclipse, though it will appear partial to us as we lie below Cairns. Here is a link to the Coffs Harbour Eclipse Calculator that gives you the best viewing times and here is the link to the official Eclipse 2012 website from Queensland Tourism that also has the live stream web cam…I’ll be watching this! Read the information flyer below for information about this solar eclipse and how to view it safely 🙂
Excellent Day and Night World Map App for iPad. It does cost $2.99 but it is excellent for viewing so many things including eclipses 🙂
Mrs Booth
Nov
4
3/4HE worked extremely hard as they started on the second quest activity for their virtual anatomy unit. They have to build a stomach with intestines that are the correct length. This is a very demanding task but already it was fantastic to see the students using the more complex building tools from the virtual program to manipulate their 3D shapes. They were also using the measuring tools correctly and were able to correctly size the small intestine which is actually very long. Super job 3/4HE 🙂
A big thank you to Michael from 5N for assisting in the class.
Mrs Booth and Ms Dunlop
Oct
31
This is what students from 5N worked on today as part of their Antarctica Stage 3 unit.
Mrs Newton and Mrs Booth
Aug
27
This explains what happened: MuM 2012 Case Notes
Well done Mighty 5M for fantastic sleuthing and researching to solve the 2012 Murder under the Microscope challenge.
5M successfully selected the correct victim, villain and crime site after researching and forming a hypothesis as to who, what and where the eco-crime had been committed.
We all thought it was the cane toad who was the villain but then at the last minute an urgent email came in telling us that no toads had been sighted at the crime site! It had to be gamba grass! We then had a last minute vote using our selected democratic council and at 11am lodged our accusations online. Wow, was it busy, even though our accusation was logged at 11.01am we were approximately the 260th school that made an accusation. Over 600 schools logged in within the first 5 minutes!
It was great fun and to have the correct results was brilliant. Did you know some scientists have suggested bringing in elephants to combat the Gamba grass epidemic. Read about it here and wouldn’t this make a great topic for a discussion or persuasive text? What do you think? Should we introduce elephants into Australia to combat the gamba grass problem in the Northern Territory and Western Australia?
Victim: Northern Quoll
Villain: Gamba grass
Crime site: Pentecost River, Kununurra, Western Australia
Ms Mulrooney, Mrs Booth and 5M
Aug
11
How exciting that finally the rover sent to Mars, called Curiosity, has landed and we will be able to learn more about that strange red planet. Did you know that Mars was named after the Roman god of war as the planet is red like blood. The red rusty colour is caused by iron minerals that make up the dust and rocks on its surface called the ‘regolith’. Earth’s regolith (soil, dirt) is made up of organic matter like dead plants, insects and animals etc. Another interesting fact about Mars is that it has the highest mountain and the lowest valley of any planet in the solar system? The mountain is called Olympus Mons and is about 27km high or 3x the height of Mt Everest.
This is a great video that runs for 6 minutes and shows the journey Curiosity made to Mars using video footage and animation. It also shows us how Curiosity will be able to take samples of the rocks and dirt and examine them for “the ingredients of life.”
‘Curiosity’ – Mission to Mars from The Film Artist
FAST FACTS
Mission name: Mars Science Laboratory
Rover name: Curiosity rover
Size: About the size of a car — 10 feet long (not including the arm), 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall!
Weight: 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds)
Features: Geology lab, rocker-bogie suspension, rock-vaporizing laser and lots of cameras
Mission: To search areas of Mars for past or present conditions favorable for life, and conditions capable of preserving a record of life
Launch: Between Nov. 25–Dec. 18, 2011, from Cape Canaveral, Florida
Arrival: August 2012 at Mars
Length of mission on Mars: The prime mission will last one Mars year or about 23 Earth months.
Fantastic resource for educators and students: Mars Science Laboratory
Watch Curiosity land with this great animation: How do I land on Mars?
Mrs Booth
